Traveling with breast milk

ironmommy · August 2011

Any suggestions for the best way to keep my BM fresh while traveling? We are going on what should be a 6 hour road trip but will likely be closer to 8. I will be bringing back some milk that I'd like to freeze -- but not sure if I should try to keep it frozen or if it's best to wait until I get home to freeze.

sweetteaBV · August 2011

we travel with a small cooler bag and lots of ice packs - this has kept unfrozen milk fresh for 12+ hours at a time. We put the milk in the fridge and ice packs in the freezer at each destination.

lyzabeth · August 2011

I travel with a cooler and ice packs. For the milk I want frozen when I get back, I keep it in bags and wait to freeze it until I'm back at home. If something happened and the milk dethawed and I wasn't able to use it, that would be milk lost. And according to the pamphlet the hospital gave me, milk can be in the fridge for up to 7 days.

SouthFloridaMommy · August 2011

sweetteaBV:
we travel with a small cooler bag and lots of ice packs - this has kept unfrozen milk fresh for 12+ hours at a time. We put the milk in the fridge and ice packs in the freezer at each destination.

This is exactly what we have done in the past.

smit3807 · August 2011

I've gone on a few 4-5 day trips and I've always waited to freeze the milk until I got home so I didn't have to worry about it thawing on the return trip. A cooler and ice packs has worked well for me during transit.

UMwife · August 2011

Ditto PP - cooler with LOTS of icepacks to keep it cold & put it in the freezer when you get home.

mom2case · August 2011

If you're planning on feeding your LO while in the car:

My pump came with an ice pack so that I could keep milk cool until I got home. It works great for road trips! It is a simple cooler but it has something like this to keep the milk cool. It shouldn't be frozen when you leave because it takes FOREVER for it to thaw. Anyway, I found it best to nurse LO right before leaving and to then pull out a bottle so it could get to room temp by the time she got hungry again.

If you're simply planning to transport milk home:

Pumped milk is supposed to stay fresh for up to 8 days. If you'll be gone less time than that or your milk is not that old, don't freeze it before coming home. Once its frozen and thawed, it's only good for 24 hours.

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Traveling with breast milk

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